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A review by nickoliver
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
informative
fast-paced
4.25
As a language/linguistics freak, I found a lot about this book very interesting! Admittedly, it wasn't quite as focused on the vocabulary of cults as I expected - a lot was simply about some infamous cults or cult-like things like MLMs or QAnon -, and I did find some of the writing a bit redundant (you don't have to tell me that something was coming in a later chapter when you're already halfway through the book), but it didn't bother me all too much (maybe also because I listened to this on audiobook and didn't read it physically).
Montell did state that she focused on the US because US-Americans apparently were more into cults than other countries, but I still would've liked to see the way other countries' experiences with them. Because truth to be told, I've never actually heard of cults that weren't based in the US, so it would've been extremely interesting to see those. Though I guess it might be hard to talk about the language used in cults when the language used isn't English and you're an English-speaker from the US.
Despite what I've read in reviews, I don't think it was bad that she talked so much about cults like Heaven's Gate or Jonestown, because fun fact, not everyone knows about them outside the US. For example, I personally have only heard of the former, and only because I saw a video talking about it once. So I was glad and thrilled that she explained what exactly had happened.
Montell did state that she focused on the US because US-Americans apparently were more into cults than other countries, but I still would've liked to see the way other countries' experiences with them. Because truth to be told, I've never actually heard of cults that weren't based in the US, so it would've been extremely interesting to see those. Though I guess it might be hard to talk about the language used in cults when the language used isn't English and you're an English-speaker from the US.
Despite what I've read in reviews, I don't think it was bad that she talked so much about cults like Heaven's Gate or Jonestown, because fun fact, not everyone knows about them outside the US. For example, I personally have only heard of the former, and only because I saw a video talking about it once. So I was glad and thrilled that she explained what exactly had happened.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Murder, Racism, Body shaming, and Death
Minor: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Cursing, and Child death